Smackdown Live vs. Raw in 2018

There is always a fierce battle among Monday Night Raw and Smackdown Live over knowing which is the superior brand. Survivor Series usually answers us that question, but this year WWE wanted us to believe that Raw sweeps Smackdown Live as we witnessed an unprecedented 6-0. But the reality is way more different than that.

Smackdown Live reigns supreme according to the majority of the WWE Universe, who claim that Monday Night Raw is "hard to watch". The length of this shows plays an important role in this statement (3 hours is too much time).

Furthermore, ratings reaffirm this previous comment. Raw's Christmas Eve episode peaked at 1.789 million viewers in the second hour: the lowest ratings in its 25-year history.

WWE Raw ratings in 2018

However, Smackdown Live is not much better. It is true that its ratings are a little bit higher lately and there is an improvement in the last two weeks, but we stand here at a historic crisis.

WWE Smackdown Live ratings in 2018

The next Superstar Shake-Up will take place after WrestleMania 35 and it will the best opportunity for equating the unbalanced rosters again. At the present time, Smackdown Live's roster is far better than Raw's. Not only the blue shows are more entertaining or their storylines are more interesting, but the match quality is much higher.

And if we are talking about wrestling quality, we cannot forget to mention NXT. What was born as a developmental brand, is now seen by many as the third brand of WWE (or fourth brand, if you take 205 Live into consideration).